Sound-absorbing panel



Dec. 16., 1969 SULEWSKY 3,483,947

SOUNDABS ORB ING PANEL Filed Sept. 8, 1967 INVENTOR JAMES E. SULEWS/(Y Affarney United States Patent 3,483,947 SOUND-ABSORBING PANEL James E. Sulewsky, Morristown, NJ, assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 666,380 int. Cl. E0411 1/99 U.S. Cl. 18133 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sound-absorbing panel for use in a building. The panel includes conventional vertical studs and wallboards over said studs. Non-parallel bailles of sound-deadening material are mounted in the compartments between the studs and wall boards.

This invention relates to an improved sound-absorbing panel.

An object of the invention is to provide a wall panel which has improved sound-absorbing characteristics over conventional panels available for the purpose.

A further object is to provide a panel of the foregoing type which includes specially positioned battles to overcome resonance and thus absorb reverberations within the panel.

In the drawing:

The single figure is a perspective view with parts broken away of my improved panel.

The figure shows a panel which includes top and botn tom members and 12, outside vertical studs 13 and 14 and a central vertical stud 15. Wall boards 16 and 17 are fixed over the back and front faces of the panel. The top and bottom members commonly are wood, the studs steel, and the wallboards a gypsum composition. The central stud divides the interior of the panel into two compartments 18 and 19. Panels of such construction are known and commonly used to form sound-deadening interior walls of buildings.

In accordance with my invention, I mount a series of transverse sound-absorbing balfies 20, 21 and 22 within each compartment 18 and 19. The baflles are of a nonporous, non-metallic low sound transmission material, such as gypsum composition or equivalent, and preferably are attached to the front and back wallboards 16 and 17 with a suitable adhesive. Each bafile may have a thickness of about /2 inch. I position the three baflles within each compartment out of parallel. Preferably the uppermost baflles 20 slope downwardly away from the central stud 1.5, the intermediate baflles 21 are level, and

the lowermost bat-fies 22 slope downwardly toward the central stud, although other arrangements are possible, Preferably, the level bafilcs 21 in the two compartments are vertically offset. The non-parallel arrangement of batfles assures a maximum sound-absorbing effect, since there is no reverberation of sound waves between the baffles themselves.

I claim:

1. The sound-absorbing panel which includes top and bottom members, a pair of outside vertical studs and a central vertical stud joined to said members, and wallboards fixed over said members and studs, said central stud dividing the interior of the panel into two compartments, the combination therewith of sound-deadening mean comprising a plurality of battles mounted in each of said compartments and extending transversely thereof and being positioned out of parallel, each of said bafiles abutting an outside stud at one end and said central stud at the other end, said bafiles dividing said compartments into shorter sub-compartments of varying vertical dimensions and being of a non-porous, non-metallic low-sound transmission material.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 in which there are three baffies in each compartment, one of the baflles in each compartment sloping downwardly away from said central stud, another of the baflles in each compartment sloping downwardly toward said central stud, the third bafile being substantially level and located between the other two.

3. A combination as defined in claim 2 in which the level bafiles of the two compartments are vertically offset.

4. A combination as defined in claim 1 in which the top and bottom members are wood, the studs steel, and the wallboards and bafiles a gypsum composition.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,807,395 5/1931 Ellis 523l7 XR 1,867,449 7/1932 Ecket et al. 52317 XR 2,085,436 6/1937 Maurer 18133 FOREIGN PATENTS 547,266 10/1957 Canada. Ad. 58,065 5/1953 France.

614,404 12/ 1948 Great Britain. 851,675 10/1960 Great Britain.

ROBERT S. WARD, ]R., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52317 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,483,947 December 16, 1969 James E. Sulewsky It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 8, "The" should read In a Signed and sealed this 27th day of October 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

